Currency - India - 1 Rupee - GOPI KISHEN ARORA (Finance Secretary, 1989-1990)

Item code: 115/IN-38

Year	1989-1990
Obverse	v  PICTURE - Ashoka Pillar Capital in rupee coin v  LEGEND - Secretary Ministry of Finance  v  NUMERAL - '1' in three places v  VALUE LEGEND - English and Hindi & SL No in bottom right
Reverse	v  PICTURE - Rupee coin with dated 1989 v  LANGUAGE PANEL - 13 Indian Languages v  COLOUR - Violet
Watermark	Ashoka Pillar Capital
Size	96 x 63 mm.
Signature	GOPI KISHEN ARORA (Finance Secretary, 1989-1990)

Etymology of the word “Rupee”

The word "rupee" was derived from the Sanskrit word रूप्यकम् (rūpyakam) or rupaya (meaning "wrought silver, a coin of silver"). The modern Indian rupee has a direct lineage from the rupiya, the silver coin, issued by Sher Shah Suri (1540—1545), continued by the Mughal rulers. Arthashastra, written by Chankaya, prime minister to the first Maurya emperor Chandragupta Maurya (c 340–290 BCE), mentions silver coins as rūpyarupa, other types of coins including gold coins (Suvarṇarūpa), copper coins (Tāmrarūpa) and lead coins (Sīsarūpa) are also mentioned. Rūpa means form or shape, example, Rūpyarūpa, rūpya — wrought silver, rūpa — form.

Rupiya issued by Sher Shah Suri, 1540–1545 CE

However in the region of Bengal, the term Taka has always been used to refer to currency. In the 14th century, Ibn Battuta noticed that people in the Bengal Sultanate referred to gold and silver coins as taka instead  of dinar.    Today, the currency of  Bangladesh  is  officially  known  as  Taka.     The word Taka in Bengali is also commonly used generically to mean any money, currency, or notes. Thus, colloquially, a person speaking in Bengali may use "taka" to refer to money regardless of what currency it is denominated in. Thus, in the states of West Bengal and Tripura the Indian rupee is officially known টাকা (Taka). Whereas, in the states of Assam and Odisha, the Indian rupee is similarly known by names derived from the Sanskrit word ṭaṅka (meaning "money"), টকা (ṭôka) in Assamese and ଟଙ୍କା (taṅkā) in Odia.

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